Supports needed for Irish families mourning drug-related deaths

Opinion: families who lose a loved one to a drug death experience a silent grief that puts them at risk of intense mental and physical health problems

By Daniel O'Callaghan and Sharon Lambert, UCC

"I would drive out to the grave; it was like I was making his bed. I would pat the whole thing down and fix it and everything"

Almost two people per day die in Ireland as a result of a drug-related death. To put this in context, 786 drug deaths occurred in 2017, which was double the amount of people who died by suicide and almost five times the figure of those who died in traffic accidents.

Annual drug-related deaths in this country are now twice that of the European average. In their last report, the Health Research Board reported 6,933 drug and alcohol related deaths nationally between 2008 and 2017. In 2018, we recorded the highest number of overdose cases (4,765) since 2008. As we await more recent figures following Covid-19-related delays, frontline services report anecdotally that figures increased during the pandemic.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in 2019, Johnny Downey, father of Jack Downey, on the impact the death of his son Jack has had on their family and Ena Lynn from the Health Research Board on the latest figures for drug-related deaths

But hidden beneath the surface of these numbers are a group of people that rarely have their voices heard. Many of these experience a complicated grieving process with the potential to have inter-generational trauma effects.

Left behind are grieving parents who may dwell on what they could have done to protect their child from an overdose death. There are the children who cannot understand why they will never see their mother or father again. Many of these carry the shame of losing a parent to what is considered a bad death with negative social stigmas. There are also siblings and friends who have been impacted by thousands of individual drug deaths, and some communities are more impacted than others.

Each of these 6,933 drug deaths accounts for a single person, and it is important that we do not forget the impact of each individual loss when we tackle rising trends in drug-related harms. The common view of drug use as a criminal justice issue in Ireland means that families face huge difficulties in accessing social and professional support when grieving someone who died from a behaviour that is perceived as morally wrong.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Mark Kennedy from Merchants Quay Ireland on a new report into drug-related deaths

A recent Irish study has shown that family members who experience a drug-related death are met with shame and isolation rather than compassion. Instead of being supported, they may find themselves stuck in a cycle of self-blame for many years without help. As one mother said in the study, they are judged by others within their family and community, with their grief experience diminished due to the association with addiction:

"There was nobody for me to talk to...the shame that is forced on you because your son you know, you didn't deserve any of your feelings, you didn’t deserve to talk about him, you didn’t deserve anything because he was a heroin addict or a junkie."

Many who read this article will understand the pain of losing a loved one and relate to the value of social support during a challenging time. However, the reality is that those who mourn drug-related deaths are not always supported in the same way as those who grieve a death by accident, or natural causes.

The isolation experienced following a drug death is intense

There has been considerable change in how we respond to previously taboo areas such as mental health and suicide. We now have suicide bereavement specific services as there is an acceptance that this can be a complicated grief. There are individual and community response plans when a death by suicide occurs.

The State needs to consider drug deaths to be worthy of a similar response and provide specialist services for families who may not know where to turn. We need strong policies to shift drug use from a criminal justice issue to a health issue, with public campaigns to challenge stigma. The isolation experienced following a drug death is intense, and there are currently many parents, children, and peers stuck in cycles of grief who are not receiving the guidance or support they require to address stigma, self-blame, guilt, and other outcomes.

Changes to policy and practice in line with international evidence can reduce this burden. Portugal moved from having one of the highest levels of drug related deaths in the EU to now being one of the lowest. This was due to a major policy shift, moving addiction from a justice response to a health response.

Without such efforts, families who lose a loved one to a drug death will continue to experience a silent grief that puts them at risk for intense mental and physical health problems. There is a social cost as family cohesion is impacted. There is a physical cost as the trauma from the loss can lead to long term physical illness. Emotionally, traumatic deaths place those left behind at a considerable risk for depression, anxiety, and other mental health difficulties. We need to recognise the relationship between trauma, addiction, and mental health, and help those who are grieving access the appropriate supports.

Daniel O'Callaghan is a PhD researcher in the School of Applied Psychology at UCC. Dr Sharon Lambert is a lecturer the School of Applied Psychology at UCC.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ. If you have been affected by issues raised in this article, support information is available online

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